Michael Jordan and LeBron James are widely regarded as the best and second best players of all time, but Colin Cowherd believes Steph Curry had a far greater impact on basketball than either of them.
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It’s a very interesting take and one that definitely requires some looking into but could it be true? LeBron and Jordan are known for their greatness.
They’ve both won multiple times, playing at the highest level possible, and they’ve compiled a list of accolades that average players can only dream of doing even half of.
The Jordan vs. James GOAT debate is perhaps the most intriguing and polarizing across all sports. There still doesn’t seem to be a conclusive answer on it, and there likely may never be. However, looking at who ‘changed’ the game of basketball is a completely different debate.
Right now, Curry is in the midst of reviving the Warriors’ dynasty, leading them all the way to the Western Conference Finals where they hold a 1-0 lead. Another Finals run could be in the works.
Colin Cowherd details how Steph Curry changed the game of basketball more than LeBron James or Michael Jordan
Is there some truth to this argument? Well if you look at it on paper, it’s easy to see why Cowherd would make such a claim. Curry single handedly transformed the league with his shooting ability. It wasn’t enough to lock him up at the three-point line, you had to be playing up on him at least a few feet back.
With the way Curry was drilling threes, teams had to adapt and counter with their own three point shooting. Look at the Houston Rockets who seemed to set records for three pointers attempted by a team in a single season year after year.
The mindset ‘3 is better than 2’ mindset quickly became ingrained in every team, and now, we’re at a level of three point shooting that the league has never seen before.
If you’re a 4 and can’t shoot the three, your value has diminished tremendously. Even centers are expected to make threes and help space the floor. Curry led that transformation. Do LeBron and Jordan have similar revolutionary changes to the game of basketball? Not necessarily in the same way as Curry.
However, their greatness changed the game in ways you can’t see on the court. Jordan quickly became the GOAT of basketball, and in turn, LeBron started chasing after him. Now, future generations will chase after LeBron, and so on. Their legacies changed the game of basketball because greatness like that hadn’t been seen before.
Regardless, Cowherd’s take has some substance to it, and it’s worth thinking about.
